What To Do When Your Inappropriate Email Gets Sent To The Wrong Person

Flickr / Ben Dodson
Instantaneous communication has made our lives easier, but the drawback is that you can't retrieve messages after clicking "send."

Sometimes, mis-sent emails can be amusing. But if the exchange is inappropriate and you're in a professional environment, those email errors can be job-destroying.

So what should you do when you accidentally send an email to someone who was never supposed to receive it?

Cynthia Good, CEO of Little Pink Book — a career resource site specifically for women — said this depends on the message itself. If it's not serious or doesn't offend anyone, feel free to move on and there's no need to even mention it.

However, if it does offend the recipient, it's best to confront the situation immediately and as the sender, you should be the one making the first move. This way, you are not waiting for the other party to come to you, but you are bringing it up first because it's your wrongdoing.

Good told us this situation has occurred in her office several times, and it has gotten out of hand when not handled properly.

"People got hurt, so we sat around and discussed it," Good says. "I mean, no one wants to have these conversations, but sometimes, those issues have already been there and now it's finally being brought to light."

"Use these uncomfortable situations as a catalyst to operate even better and improve on relationships between colleagues," she says. If not, these underlying feelings of resentment will potentially lead to bigger and more serious problems in the office.